Debut Western Horror Novel Devil’s Call Being Eyed for a Film or TV Adaptation
“Before I leave you in this world, my dear, I aim to record what came to pass when your momma rode from the Nebraska Territory to Louisiana to the frozen Badlands to bring to justice the monster who murdered your father.”
These are the opening lines of Devil’s Call, J. Danielle Dorn’s debut novel—a western horror revenge tale about a pregnant witch in the Old West who hunts down the man who killed her husband. Written as a letter to the child she carries, Devil’s Call is a brew of enchanting horror, the occult, and historical fantasy—but most intriguingly a re-animation of the western revenge tale. As the genre witnesses a huge comeback in pop culture, with the recent successes of The Revenant and “Westworld,” Dorn’s first installment in the series offers a thrilling debut rife with big or small screen potential.
Circulation of the early manuscript in Hollywood ignited much interest for film and TV rights, while Dorn received acclaim for “prose evocative of a young, female Elmore Leonard—but with a contemporary and hybridizing element of magical realism that tilts toward horror.” Dorn, who works at Best Buy by day and writes fiction by night, exemplifies the kind of new author voices Inkshares’ studio-for-stories aims to amplify.
The book will release in paperback this summer on July 18th (pre-order now). Inkshares is close to securing a TV adaptation of the book so stay tuned for updates… and a giveaway closer to the release date.
Synopsis:
On a dark night in the winter of 1859, three men entered the home of Dr. Matthew Callahan and shot him dead in front of his pregnant wife. Unfortunately for them, his wife, Li Lian, hails from a long line of women gifted in the dark arts―the witches of the McPherson clan.
This diary, written to the child she carries, records her quest from the Nebraska Territory to Louisiana to the frozen shore of Lake Superior to bring justice to the monsters responsible for shooting her husband in the back. Our long-rifled witch will stop at nothing―and risk everything―in her showdown with evil.
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